As a heads up, this election will be mail only. By March 18 all registered voters will be mailed their ballots and will need to be returned to the City Clerk by 7 p.m. on April 2.
All voters will be electing a new mayor, and voters in Districts 2, 4 and 6 will be electing representatives. In addition to those elections, voters will be presented with ballot and financial issues, or initiated, referred ordinances and/or resolutions.
As your local bicycling nonprofit, Bike Fort Collins feels informed voters are an important mechanism to support safe enjoyable roads for ALL cyclists in our community. Each election year there are candidates for both local offices and local ballot measures that could have some impact upon our bicycling environment. With the objective of educating voters on local candidates views towards bicycling, we’ve sent a short questionnaire to this years candidates. The questions and responses are below are from Lori Brunswig, Councilmember District 6.
Bike Fort Collins cannot take any official position endorsing candidates, this is information for you to potentially consider when making your own decisions.
QUESTIONS IN BOLD AND ANSWERS IN REGULAR TEXT:
Do you regularly ride a bicycle?
No, I don’t bike regularly anymore. I biked everywhere and have all
my life until about eight years ago. My kids and I biked together in the
neighborhood and Rolland Moore Park and then following Spring
Creek to the Poudre River Trail when they were young. Since then, I
have tried riding north on my bike from my house (Ridgewood and
Stuart) which requires riding on Shields St. or on Taft Hill Road.
Both routes are very busy and I felt very unsafe. I also don’t like
breathing the car emissions.
If so, where is your favorite place to ride?
I loved the bike trails in Rolland Moore Park. My kids and I would
ride through the park and then east to Dairy Queen and back. As
the kids got older, we would ride down the Poudre River Trail and
back.
What do you feel are the top two barriers to bicycling in Fort Collins?
One barrier for me is my concerns about riding in a small bike lane
along a busy street. The other barrier is the lack of ways to bike
north and south that don’t require being on a busy street and
breathing vehicle emissions.
What should be the City’s role in supporting transit as a safe,
affordable, efficient and convenient travel option for people of all
ages and abilities?
It is critical that the City is involved in providing a way that people
of any ability have transit options available to them. We need to
step up as a City and fund these options from better bike lanes to additional buses. We need to reduce the number of cars on the roads to reduce accidents and protect our air quality.
Do you support paid public parking? Please explain your reasoning.
Yes, we need public parking but we would not need as much if the
City provided better ways for citizens to get around in Fort Collins
other than driving a vehicle everywhere.
Vision Zero
The Transportation systems section of our new City Plan draft refers
to developing a safety enhancement action plan for all modes based
on the City’s commitment to Vision Zero. Denver has adopted a
Vision Zero action plan including mandatory progress reporting.
Should the City of Fort Collins have a formal role supporting,
implementing, and reporting on Vision Zero?
Yes
If so, what should that role be?
If the City doesn’t take a formal role supporting, implementing, and
reporting on Vision Zero then who would this be? The City needs to
back this idea and be willing to implement the plan and track and
report its progress. Safer streets benefit everyone.
Distracted Driving
What is your opinion of the Distracted Driving Bill (SB 19-012),
currently under consideration in the State legislature?
I support this bill. I am continually seeing vehicles where the driver
is texting. Many times, these people are young but over the age of
18 so to just restrict drivers using cell phones under 18, is not very
helpful. This bill will save the lives of other drivers but especially
protect pedestrians and bikers from injuries.
Infrastructure
Significant areas of our local community have gaps in local bicycling
and walking infrastructure. In addition to the safety hazard they
discourage residents from these activities.
How would you approach filling in those infrastructure gaps?
Yes, there are some extremely dangerous roadways in town where
riding a bike or walking is not safe. And, these areas are in places
where you would likely see a high use of bikes, such as near CSU.
For instance, along Shields, north of Prospect and Taft Hill, north of
Prospect are very dangerous roadways for bikes and pedestrians.
I’m not an expert on transportation but more funds need to be used
in these areas to create safer lanes for bikes and walkers. It needs
to have a higher priority for funding and I will push for this, if
elected.